The Deindustrialist Newsletter: [Issue 4 - Week of October 30th, 2023]
Big Money in politics, Bayer's double play, and a stark look at how our children's health is becoming a corporate game
Hello friends,
Just a few important items to kick things off:
Two weeks ago, I started my newsletter praising Senator Josh Hawley’s bill to eliminate corporate money in election campaigns. Well, it looks like he’s been heard as the corporate money man himself, Senator Mitch McConnell, warned fellow GOP senators they will face “incoming” if they backed his bill.
Yikes.
To be fair, Sen. Hawley did receive more than $20 million from Sen. McConnell’s corporate money-financed super PAC during his 2018 election campaign.
The proposed legislation by Hawley would prohibit publicly traded corporations from engaging in independent political spending and from making financial contributions to super PACs.
I cannot emphasize enough how significant this would be if passed in reversing the trend of Big Money’s influence in our government and, in turn, on American life.
***
Bayer is extending its ten-year cancer research collaboration with the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard for an additional five years. I guess with all the recent court-ordered multi-million dollar payouts123 totaling over $1.75 billion and the 40,000 cases left to litigate4 due to their cancer-causing weed killer Roundup, they figured they should at least recoup some of their losses by profiting off cures for the diseases they’re causing.
I jest.
But it is quite the peculiar scenario Bayer finds itself in: profit off of a well-documented cancer-causing product (Roundup) while also profiting off of cancer treatments. This doesn’t even account for the recent reporting that glyphosate (the primary active ingredient in Roundup) has been connected to epidemic levels of chronic kidney disease, another therapeutic area of focus for Bayer.
Why is this important for you to know?
Well, a scenario where a company is involved in both a product alleged to cause cancer (Roundup) and cancer treatment research might raise ethical concerns about conflicting interests. It prompts you to question whether a company profiting from both ends of a health issue is acting in the public's best interest.
I’d say they’re not.
***
So why do I start this newsletter with the combination of these two stories?
Well, they’re more related than you think. Over the summer, the Agricultural Labeling Uniformity Act was proposed to be included in this year’s Farm Bill.
This act would grant broad legal safeguards to pesticide manufacturers and their products, supersede local authority in regulating pesticide application, and obstruct numerous legal actions affecting Bayer. (Read more here.)
Records of lobbying activities reveal that Bayer and the industry-supported organization CropLife America have prioritized the enactment of the legislation.
One of the significant ways corporations like Bayer lobby Congress is through political action committees (PACs), where they can contribute to the campaigns of political candidates who support their interests.
So right here, we have a corporation like Bayer, using their massive wallet to peddle legislation through Congress (the Agricultural Labeling Uniformity Act) to protect their interests (usage of pesticides like Roundup) from being sued by paying off members of Congress (most likely through super PAC campaign contributions). Talk about ‘profit over people.’
This is precisely the type of shenanigans that Sen. Josh Hawley hopes to curb through his Ban Corporate PACs Act.
Make it so, Sen. Hawley!
***
One last thing!
Before we get into the bulk of the newsletter, I wanted to share an essay I came across this week that I HIGHLY recommend every reader of The Deindustrialst reads, even if it takes you away from this newsletter never to return.
The essay, written by Bill Schubart and titled “We poison ourselves with industrial food, sugar and pills,” is an excellent yet sobering exposé on the current state of health in our nation; I couldn't have done a better job if I had tried.
***
👇Now, let’s get into it!👇
Children’s Health and Safety
A common theme throughout The Deindustrialist is the pivotal relationship between the parent and the child in many facets. One important issue is the child’s health and safety, and the news coming out this week underscores that more than ever.
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This past week, we saw Atrium Health of North Carolina allow children aged 12-17 to receive at-home prescriptions, even controversial ones like puberty blockers, without the parent’s consent, or the ability for them to access such records.
As I shared last week, popular adult weight loss drugs are now being tested on children as young as six years old, and just this week, a study came out that obesity treatment can now safely begin as young as four years old.
So, here we have the severing of parents’ rights to know what their children are being prescribed, plus the expansion of medical treatments on their children.
It’s hard not to look at this and see an unfortunate future, one where parents can no longer influence what medical treatments their children receive and one where the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry exploits the innocence of children for financial gain.
It begs the question, whose children are they?
***
In an informative and welcoming piece on cough and cold medicine for your children, we see healthcare professionals decrying the use of such meds in children under four years old, saying the risks often outweigh the benefits and to the child’s immune system to work its beautifully innate function.
This coincides with news coming out that the key active ingredient, phenylephrine, in these cough and cold OTC medications is essentially useless yet has been marketed to us heavily over the years as being so.
Just another modern-day snake oil medicine marketed by Big Pharma to trick parents into thinking they need to give these meds to their children when they are better off simply relying on sound nutrition, proper sleep, and trust in their kid’s innate immune system.
Kudos to the Cleveland Clinic for this piece.
***
Protecting grandma from getting COVID-19 by her grandchild may not have been as necessary as previously thought, as a recent study shows children ‘rarely’ transmitted COVID to vulnerable adults.
The mental health damage we may have done to children over the past three years by isolating vulnerable family members from them is underscored by a forthcoming comprehensive study. This research illuminates the crucial role that nurturing and affectionate relationships between parents and young children play in not only promoting positive social behaviors but also in shielding them against mental health challenges as they grow into their teenage years.
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Pregnant and soon-to-be pregnant mamas should take note; two studies coming out this week highlight the health implications of obesity, asthma, and lead exposure to the baby.
One finds a mom’s asthma and obesity heightens a child’s autism risk. At the same time, the other shows that exposure to lead, whether from the environment or diet during pregnancy, increases a child's chance of CDD [cogntitive developmental delay] by 55%.
As I reported two weeks ago, 100% of the 42 fast food samples tested by Moms Across America had trace amounts or higher of lead. The highest amount was 912% higher than what the EPA allows in drinking water, which was in a Sonic Drive-in cheeseburger.
We should already know eating fast food increases the risk of obesity, but now we know it exposes one to lead contamination. Mama’s, please take note!
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Good news for the nearsighted! Noteably our children. Research this past week has shown that outdoor activity provides the greatest value for helping reduce the progression of nearsightedness, aka myopia, in children.
Myopia has been steadily increasing over the past several decades, and I can’t help but think this coincides with the increasing move of children indoors and staring at screens all day. This suspicion seems to be warranted given a recent report by National Geographic.
***
In the continuing theme of the pervasiveness of chemicals in our world found throughout The Deindustrialist, recent findings link vineyard pesticides to a heightened risk of childhood leukemia. This further underscores the urgent need for cleaner, organic agricultural practices.
Parents should take note of the proximity of such areas to the areas their children occupy.
Diet and Traditional Practices
The hyper-industrialization of our food system has further and further removed us from our traditional diets that were once so closely intertwined with the land we lived on over the past several years.
Well, a story coming out of the depths of the Amazon highlights this disruption more than ever. Indigenous tribes, once untainted by Big Industry, mainly Big Food, became inevitably exposed to their tentacle through the development of the Trans-Amazonian Highway back in the 1980s.
Since then, just as the influx of ultra-processed foods skyrocketed in these villages, so did the rates of diabetes, hypertension, and other diseases.
But recently, and fortunately for their sake, they are returning to their traditional roots, and so is their health.
We should all take note.
Environmental Health and Chemical Exposure
Concluding this week’s roundup of stories, I have both an inspiring development on the regulatory side and a disturbing report on a common household hygienic product.
***
First, coming off the heels of a recent banning of four commonly used, yet harmful, food ingredients by California, the FDA proposes a ban on brominated vegetable oil, an ingredient linked to serious health risks, used in sports drinks and sodas and still found in some products despite being outlawed in the EU and Japan.
Good on California and the FDA for finally taking action against products like these. Unfortunately, it is likely the food industry will find a replacement to fill the void (if they haven’t already) that may not necessarily be any better.
This underscores the importance of scouring the food labels of anything you’re considering bringing into your home. As I’ve said many times here and in past content, if you stick to single-ingredient, whole, natural, REAL food, you are best positioned to avoid most of these insidious chemicals.
***
We should already know at this point that PFAS, infamously known as ‘forever chemicals’ and implicated with a slew of adverse health complications, should be avoided at all costs. Unfortunately, they’re prevalent throughout much of society.
Recently, social media has erupted with the realization that PFAS chemicals are also found in our dental floss.
Well, of course!
It’s high time we start scouring anything we may be putting in, on, or near our bodies for potential contamination with PFAS.
Be sure to add dental floss to that list. Fortunately, companies have already pounced on this by marketing PFAS-free dental floss. Now, that’s capitalism at its finest!
This Week’s In-Depth Essay:
Of Goblins, Ghouls, and Glucose — A Modern Halloween Tale
In this week’s essay, we explore Halloween—a holiday that beautifully encapsulates the conflict between tradition and commercialism. While we cherish the communal spirit it fosters, we also confront the deluge of candy that floods our homes, courtesy of a multi-billion dollar industry. This essay invites us to ponder our participation in Halloween's festivities with a critical eye on health and the subtle yet pervasive influence of consumerism on our families. As we don costumes and collect treats, let's also arm ourselves with awareness, shaping a holiday that honors our joy without compromising our well-being.
Conclusion
To wrap up this week's edition, we circle back to the core of The Deindustrialist's message: the ever-present struggle to preserve the integrity of our health, families, and environment in the face of corporate interests. Whether it's pushing back against Big Money in politics or revealing the two-faced nature of industries profiting from the problems they perpetuate, our stories shine a light on the necessity of informed resistance.
From indigenous tribes reclaiming their health through traditional diets to the cautionary tales of parental rights in healthcare being eroded, we're reminded of the need for an unwavering commitment to natural living and the empowerment of family sovereignty.
And as we witness efforts to ban hazardous substances, we see glimmers of progress. It's a battle of many fronts, requiring our diligent attention and action.
Let's continue to stand firm in our quest for a cleaner, more transparent world where the welfare of our families isn't sidelined by profit. Here's to sowing seeds of change, one story at a time.
Stay Aware. Stay Empowered. Stay Free
-Greg
https://www.reuters.com/legal/bayer-ordered-pay-332-mln-roundup-cancer-trial-lawcom-2023-10-31/
https://www.aboutlawsuits.com/175m-awarded-roundup-lawsuit/
https://www.aboutlawsuits.com/roundup-non-hodgkins-lymphoma-lawsuit-verdict/
https://www.lawsuit-information-center.com/roundup-mdl-judge-question-10-billion-settlement-proposal.html